1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cleaning/drying apparatus and a cleaning/drying method, and more particularly to a cleaning/drying apparatus and a cleaning/drying method for cleaning and drying a cleaning/drying target by positioning the cleaning/drying target in a vapor area of an organic solvent.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, in manufacturing an electronic component (e.g., wafer, magnetic head), wet cleaning is performed in between the manufacturing processes by using, for example, an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for removing materials (e.g., adhesive agent) adhered to the electronic component during the manufacturing process. After the wet cleaning, an installing case containing the electronic component is placed in a cleaning/drying apparatus for drying the surface of the electronic component (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-040536).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a cleaning/drying apparatus 1 (referred to as “vapor drying machine”) according to a related art example (as shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-040536). The vapor drying machine 1 includes a main body (drying tub) 2 forming the outer body of the vapor drying apparatus 1. Inside the main body, there is provided an elevating stage 8 for supporting an installing case 10 containing a cleaning/drying target (electronic component such as a wafer or a magnetic head) and a solvent discharging part 9 for collecting a cleaning liquid such as water replaced by an organic solvent on the surface of the installing case 10.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the installing case 10 used for a magnetic head. As shown in FIG. 2, the magnetic head is configured as a row bar 11 so that plural magnetic heads can be installed inside the installing case 10. The installing case 10 is shaped as a frame. Each row bar 11 is held at both ends of the installing case 10 (upper and lower ends in FIG. 2). The portion of the row bar 11 between the ends is not covered (i.e. exposed) by the installing case 10. This allows organic solvent to condense on the surface of the row bar (magnetic head) 11 as described below.
An organic solvent 3 is provided at a lower part of the main body 2. The main body 2 also has a heater 4 provided below the organic solvent 3. By heating with the heater 4, the organic solvent 3 evaporates to form a vapor area 5. A cooling pipe 6 configured as a corrugated tube is provided at an upper inner side of the main body 2 for circulating cooling water. By circulating cooling water inside the cooling pipe 6, a cooling area 7 can be formed. The vapor of the heated organic solvent 3 heated by the heater 4 is cooled and falls as droplets after becoming a liquid. This prevents vapor from being released from the main body 2.
With the above-described vapor drying apparatus 1 according to the related art example, when the installing case 10 having a low temperature is placed into the main body 2 filled with high temperature vapor of an organic solvent, the organic solvent condenses on the surface of the electronic device installed inside the installing case 10; thereby the organic solvent can flow off from the surface together with stains on the surface of the electronic device. Thereby, the surface of the electronic device is cleaned. Then, when the installing case 10 reaches the same temperature as the vapor, the organic solvent on the surface of the installing case 10 evaporates, to thereby dry the surface of the electronic device.
However, with the above-described cleaning/drying method, there is a possibility that stains on the surface of the installing case 10 may still remain when the organic solvent flows off from the surface. From the aspect of cleaning efficiency, the surface of the electronic device cannot be sufficiently cleaned with the method of cleaning the surface of the electronic device by allowing the condensed organic solvent to flow off from its surface.